After knocking out the defending champion in the first round of the Mercer County Tournament, the Lawrence High boys’ soccer team was at it again, rallying from a two-goal deficit to defeat Hopewell Valley, 5-4, in a nail-biting nine-goal thriller Monday afternoon at Ackerson Field.

The Cardinals came into the tournament under .500 and as the No. 12 seed, but are now one game away from playing for an improbable county championship if they can get by top-seeded Notre Dame in the semifinals.

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“We knew we were better than our seeding,” said senior Zach Weyand, who tallied a pair of goals. “So the ability to upset the (five seed Pennington) and then the four, especially in this fashion to score five goals when our trouble all year has been scoring goals. It’s just great.”

Most impressive about Lawrence’s victory is that it came back from an early 2-0 deficit with the fourth-seeded Bulldogs primed to turn this quarterfinal into a laugher.

Instead, Weyand smashed home a 21st-minute penalty after Hopewell goalkeeper Owen Clarke came way off his line and tripped Jacek Zarski inside the box.

That was a key turning point because David Kraszewski equalized with 6:30 left in the half when he brilliantly brought down a pass inside the box and weaved past his marker before firing low shot past Clarke.

“Going into the half 2-2, I had a really good felling we were going to win the game,” Cards coach Brian Rostron said. “The penalty kick was definitely a momentum shift. We just took that and went with it. It was good to end the first half 2-2 and to come out and win the second half 3-2.”

“When they put that second goal in, everyone was down, but once we started connecting passes, we knew we were going to get more opportunities,” Weyand said. “The (penalty kick) when we got that, we were able to get back in the game and then we were able to score the next three.”

The second half was high on drama.

Anthony Scardelletti put Lawrence (8-9-1) in front seven minutes into the half, pouncing on a deflected shot and finishing into an open net from 18 yards.

Five minutes later, the Cardinals incredibly doubled their advantage when Arek Szoldrowski played a beautiful pass into the path of Weyand, who looped his first-time finish over the onrushing Clarke.

Fourteen-win Hopewell wasn’t going quietly and responded in the 62nd minute through Ryan Mathews. The senior forward stuffed home a rebound — his second goal of the game — after Lawrence goalkeeper Kyle Springsteen couldn’t hold the initial shot following some great work down the right-hand side by the impressive Jimmy Wilson.

The twists and turns, though, were far from finished.

Cameron Baffuto weaved his way into the box past a fatigued Bulldogs defense and put the Cardinals up 5-3 with 12:44 remaining.

Still, Hopewell (14-5) gave itself a lifeline through Jamey Cane, who rose highest to head home Wilson’s corner with 1:05 left.

The Bulldogs led 2-0 after 19 minutes on goals by Russ Nicholson and Mathews, but Springsteen came up big for Lawrence on a number of occasions to keep his team in it.

The sophomore’s best save came with the Cards trailing 2-1 when he dove across his goal to palm away Ross Burrows’ header.

“I know we have the ability to come back,” said Springsteen, who finished with 11 saves. “I know that we were able to come back and score and that drove me to be even better.”

Best of all, this fairy tale can still get better. The clock isn’t nearing midnight yet.

“Yes, without a doubt (we can win the whole thing),” Weyand said. “Don’t count us out because we are the 12 seed.”

About the Author

Kyle Franko covers college and high school sports at the Trentonian. He is a Rutgers grad, avid football -- the European variety -- fan and part-time pick-up basketball player. Reach the author at kfranko@trentonian.com
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